Inspirational business leaders from across the Liverpool city region were honoured at the Liverpool Hope and The Leaders Club Awards 2018.
Six awards were presented to individuals who have either demonstrated excellent leadership skills or promoted it in others, across the Arts, Common Good, Enterprise, Health and Social Care, Education, and the Uniformed Services.
The winners:
Arts - Gemma Bodinetz, Artistic Director, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse
Alongside Executive Director Deborah Aydon, Gemma has helped to resurrect the vitality of artistic life in Liverpool since joining the theatres in 2003. The success of the newly revived theatres contributed significantly to the city securing the Capital of Culture title in 2008.
More than 14 years on, and Gemma’s successes can be seen in the reopening of the Playhouse studio, the launch of a reinvigorated and award-winning youth programme across both theatres, and the redesign of the Everyman, which saw the theatre win the Stirling Prize for architecture. The Everyman’s work has also been performed in local communities, has transferred to the West End and New York, and Everyman Company has been launched - an ensemble of 14 actors who will perform shows in repertory over six months.
Common Good - Steve Faragher, Founder and Director, Kensington Vision CIC
Steve Faragher has founded and managed several projects in the Kensington community, including Liverpool Community Radio, ONYA Recycled Cycles and The Kensington Bread Company CIC. These projects display his vision for social enterprise within the local community, drive to challenge the status quo, and aim to be a champion for the vulnerable in times of austerity and ‘abdication of social responsibility by business and the Government’.
Education - Dr Tony Lloyd, Executive Director, ADHD Foundation
Tony is the Executive Director of the ADHD Foundation in Liverpool. His proactive, innovative approach has led to the provision becoming the only Third Sector agency to provide the NHS NICE guidelines’ multi-modal service of therapies/evidence-based interventions in the UK.
He has expanded local, regional, national and international awareness of ADHD, and allied neurodisabilities through his ‘bespoke’ response to individual stakeholders, including schools, universities, parents and Clinical Commissioning Groups. The Foundation is now the largest patient-led ADHD service and largest provider of training on ADHD to schools/universities in the UK – training over 4,000 teachers and student teachers annually.
Enterprise - Tony Cahill, Executive Director, First Ark
Tony is a well-respected, knowledgeable, established business leader within Merseyside. As an Executive Director of First Ark, he has a wealth of diverse industry experience that is paramount to the success of the organisation.
First Ark holds a front and central vision of ‘Changing Peoples Lives’ through a sustainable business model, which operates to create social impact through the way it works, invests and influences. Tony’s leadership vision means First Ark’s activities directly reflect its social purpose.
Health & Social Care - Kathy Devlin, Clinical Manager, Beacon Counselling Trust
Kathy has been involved in the field for the past 10 years, having founded Paul’s Place, offers a unique free one-to-one postvention counselling service for those bereaved by suicide. This much-needed service receives neither Government nor NHS funding; and relies solely on fundraising events and personal donations.
Kathy is a natural leader, willing to offer help and support as well as solve problems. Due to her sheer determination and tenacity, Paul’s Place became not just an idea, but a live project launched in October 2017 and already supporting 30 service users. Kathy was nominated by a service user at Beacon Counselling Trust, who said: “We know that we would not be where we are at now, if it weren’t for the invaluable counselling we have received at Beacon Counselling Trust.”
Uniform Services - Donna Morgan, Head of Safer Custody, HMP Altcourse
Within the extremely demanding and complex environment of a prison, Donna has shown great leadership in making HMP Altcourse a safer place for staff to work and prisoners to live in. Donna has worked tirelessly with perpetrators and victims of violence to understand why violence happens.
At a recent inspection of Altcourse by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, the Chief Inspector stated that Safer Custody at Altcourse is bucking the national trend and has made real strides in solving the issues facing the prison.